LECTURE NOTES

ON

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS
IN IC ENGINES

BY

MR. GEORGE VARGHESE

 6. MODERN DEVELOPMENTS IN IC ENGINES

Wankel engine (rotary engine):

The Wankel engine is a rotary combustion engine, developed by a

German engineer, Felix Wankel.
It is an alternative to the four-stroke reciprocating SI engine-
The reciprocating piston has been replaced by triangular- shaped
rotor. Sketched in 1924, Prototype 1929, Patented double rotor 1934

There are three rotating parts:

 The triangular-shaped rotor with internal gear which meshes
with a sun gear the output shaft with eccentric flywheel
 The stationary parts are two lobe housing called stator with
intake and exhaust ports two, side housing with fixed timing
gears on one side of the housing.
 The gear ratios are such that the output shaft rotates at three
times the speed of the rotor.
 • The rotor provides three working spaces.
• The rotor has an anticlockwise rotation as shown in fig and fresh
charge enters the system in space -1.
• The proceeding charge is at maximum compression in space 2,
where the spark plug initiates the combustion process.
• combustion continues in the space-3 and the products of
combustion are being expelled out from space-3.
• The wankel rc engine works on the familiar four-phase cycle
principle
The term ‘phase’ has been used to avoid confusing it with the four
strokes of the reciprocating engine, though the phenomenon is exactly
the same
Four phases of a Wankel engine
As the rotor apexes pass around the walls, the volume enclosed
between the bore and the rotor flank a-b varies in a sinusoidal manner
and executes the four phases.
1. Intake phase: - entrapped volume expands when the apex passes
over the intake port, thereby, drawing in the fuel-air mixture.

2. Compression phase : the rotor turns further, this volume is

isolated from the intake port and the mixture is compressed
3. Ignition & combustion phase: Then rotor passes over a recessed
spark plug and enlarges again during the expansion phase,
thereby, absorbing the power produced by combustion.

4. Exhaust phase: Finally, when the apex passes the exhaust port in
the opposite end of combustion chamber, exhaust phase is
executed and one thermodynamic cycle is completed. At the
same time other two chambers follow exactly the same sequence,
though with some phase difference. Each of the three moving
chambers formed by a flank of the rotor goes through the four
phases during one complete revolution of the rotor. So, there are
three power impulses for each revolution of the rotor.
Salient features of Wankel engine

 Rotary piston has an equilateral curved sided triangular shape.

 The inner surface of the housing is epitrochoidal in shape.
 The ratio of rolling circle radius to the fixed circle radius is 3:2.
 Output shaft rotates three times for every single rotation of the
rotary piston.
 One Thermodynamic phase is completed for every 2700 of the
output shaft.
 There will be one combustion and power stroke for every one
revolution of the output shaft.
 The suction and exhaust processes are port controlled by the
rotation of the piston. Port timings remain constant even at high
speeds unlike the valve timings of a reciprocating engine which
get delayed at high speeds due to elasticity of push rods.

Merits and demerits of rotary combustion engine

Merits:
• Due to absence of reciprocating parts vibrations are minimum and
dynamic balancing is easy.
• For the same reason engine friction is less.
• Cost is less.
• Due to less friction and absence of valves the output and
efficiency are superior to the reciprocating version at speeds
above 5000 rpm.
• Due to absence of large flywheels the engine is lighter.
Demerits:
• The apex seals are susceptible for wear and leakage. Hence
require frequent replacement.
 • There is power loss due to blow-by caused at apex seals and
hence at lower engine speeds below about 5000 rpm the power
output is less relative to the reciprocating version.
• Due to larger surface to volume ratio of the combustion chamber
UBHC emission is high, though NOx is slightly reduced.

Electronic Control in SI Engines

Since the days of invention of IC engines, there has been constant
demand for the improvement of efficiency, economy and power. There
are many devices being tried to achieve the same in several stages. The
modern engines are not only required to achieve the above
requirements but also satisfy the stringent emissions norms. So as to
survive in the market every manufacturer has to achieve these norms.
In SI engines higher A/F ratio is more likely to cause higher pollution
compared to CI engines. Carburetor is used for mixing air and fuel in
required proportion in all Carbureted engines. In a carburetor
controlling A/F ratio is relatively difficult as the carburetion process is
left to the natural process and we don’t have any control over it. Hence
it fails to meet the stringent emission norms. This has led to the
evolution of the new concept called fuel injection for petrol engines, in
which the A/F ratio is controlled always by an on board microcomputer.
For the complete oxidation I kg of fuel we requires 14.7 kg of air, which
is known as a chemically correct mixture or Stoichiomatric air-fuel ratio.
At this air fuel ratio all the fuel molecules will burn completely without
any hydrocarbon leftover. However, it is not possible for an engine to
run on this A/F ratio, because different conditions require different A/F
ratio.

A carburettor was reasonably good enough to fulfill the above

said requirements, but when it comes to the matter of stringent
emissions control it fails. A/F ratio in carburettor was controlled by a
system of jets through which air and fuel flow. Size of the jets were
determined by testing of the vehicle during pre-production research

Condition A/F ratio

Cold starting 6 to 10 : 1

Post starting 6 to 10 :1

Idle speed 13:1

Slow 10 to 12: 1
running

Acceleration 10 to 12:1

Cruising 16 to 18:1

Power 12 to 13:1

Deceleration 19:1

The function of the carburetor could never be accurately

controlled throughout an engines operating conditions This is because
to control the A/F ratio accurately; the following conditions must be
monitored precisely:
  Air volume
 Air temperature
 Position of the throttle
 Engine pressure
 Engine speed
 Engine load
 Fuel temperature
 Atmospheric pressure

Ignition Systems
Its function is to initiate combustion in the flammable air-fuel
mixture by igniting it at precisely the right moment. A spark plug is
used for the ignition; battery-ignition systems generally employ an
ignition coil to generate the high tension voltage needed to generate
the spark. The timing or duration of the spark is controlled by the
contact type distributor using two variable parameters viz. Engine
speed and load. At the moment of ignition, the voltage across the
electrodes abruptly rises from zero to arcing voltage and plug fires.
Once the spark has ignited, the spark plug voltage drops to the
sparking.
Because of wear and tear of the contact breakers over the time the
timing of the spark is never precise and also it is independent of several
other influencing factors such as:
 Engine temperature
 Intake air temperature
 Fuel quality (Octane)
 Position of the throttle
 Engine idling speed
 Air conditioning ON/OFF
 Power assisted steering
 Engine wear.
 Thus only way for fully monitoring all the variables necessary to
efficiently manage an engine is to use microcomputer systems.
Modern day microcomputer systems has begun to play a key role in
ignition and fuel management in SI engine. Electronic control of the
fuel injection system allows us to select the correct air fuel ratio for
different operating conditions. Electronic fuel management will help
to reduce mal-distribution between cylinders and also leads to
extremely low levels of exhaust emissions

Electronic Controlled Fuel Injection Systemsin SI Engines

 High fuel economy and specific power output
 Good drivability
 Extremely low pollution levels
 Easy maintenance
 Adaptation to operating and atmospheric conditions

There are two types of electronic injection system

 Single point fuel injection or throttle body injection or TBI system

 Multipoint fuel injection- MPFI system
 Single Port Fuel Injection (Throttle Body Injection):

The system is very simple and cheaper but it creates problems in

providing equal distribution of fuel to all cylinders in case of multi
cylinder engines fuel particles have a tendency to deposit themselves
on the walls of the manifold during cold starting conditions.
Multi Port Fuel Injection:

The relative high temperature inlet valve head helps in vaporization

of fuel particles. The fuel has neither the opportunity to deposit on
the walls of manifold, when cold, nor the chances of non-uniform
distribution in multi-cylinder engines.
The principle disadvantage of this system is that

Injectors have to be accommodated in the cylinder head and they

have to withstand the high temperatures.
Advantages of port fuel injection: - Increased power and torque due to
improved volumetric efficiency (absence of carburetor)
 More uniform fuel distribution,
 More rapid engine response to changes in throttle position,
 Precise control of equivalence ratio during cold starting and
engine warm-up.

Common Rail Direct Injection

The manner in which fuel is injected into the cylinder determines the
engine's torque, fuel consumption, emission and noise level.
Critical factors which influence the Injections are;
 Injection pressure.
 Shape of injector and no of holes
 No. of injections
Imp. components are:
 High Pressure Pump, for generating pressure in the rail.
 Rail, which contains the pressurized reserves of fuel.
 Injectors, which inject the requisite precise quantities of fuel into
the combustion chamber.
 Electronic Control Unit (ECU), which acts as the control center
with inputs from a number of sensors.
Requirement for CRDI:
• Common rail with electronic control unit eliminate the problems
associated with interconnecting pipes in traditional pump-line-
injector systems.
• CRDI have scope for pilot injection and more desirable injection
pressure characteristics.
Pilot injection: It is an additional small amount of fuel injection before
the power producing main fuel pulse.
• Modern engines use a pilot injection before the power producing
main fuel pulse. This smoothens the pressure spike and
dramatically reduces the engine noise.
• Pilot injection also reduces peak combustion temperature which
helps to reduce NOx emissions drastically.
• It means it controls the amount of fuel injected during the ignition
delay period
• In the Common Rail System, the two functions, namely pressure
generation and injection are performed separately.
• Firstly pressure generation and storing the fuel under high
pressure in a central rail.
• Secondly, delivering the fuel to the individual cylinders through
the electronically-controlled injectors on demand.
• High-pressure pump generates in an rail pressure up to 1,600 bar.
• Pump runs independently of the engine speed and the quantity of
fuel injected.
• Whenever the injector opens, the high-pressure fuel in the rail is
injected into combustion chamber quickly.
• Here injector acts as a valve rather than a pressure generator.
• The ECU controls all the injection parameters such as the pressure
in the rail, the timing and duration of injection, as well as
performing other engine functions.
• This ensures that incredibly high injection pressures are available
at all times, even at low engine speeds.
 • The electronic control unit is able to collect different data from
the engine and operating conditions with sensors

Dual Fuel Engines:

• IC engines operating on two fuels- one is gaseous and the other is
liquid -in widely varying proportions are called as dual fuel
engines.
• The reasons for using liquid fuel are;
 To compensate for the shortage of liquid fuel.
 Gaseous fuels are slightly cheaper than liquid fuels
 Better combustion and lower pollution
Generally 4 options are available for converting these existing engine
to use gaseous fuel, they are,
1. SI dedicated,
2. SI Dual fuel,
3. CI dedicated and
4. CI dual fuel
5. In case of SI engines the term dual fuel is used to indicate that the
engine can be run on either of the two fuels i.e. either petrol or
gaseous fuel (LPG & CNG).
6. The term Dual fuel has different meaning when applied to CI
engines.
7. In CI engine, gaseous fuel (secondary fuel) is inducted and
compressed in the engine cylinder with air, and a small quantity of
diesel (Pilot fuel- primary fuel) is injected through the
conventional diesel fuel system to ignite the mixture.
8. This system also provided an option of switching back to diesel
fuel.
• Gaseous fuel (Secondary Fuel) and air mixture is compressed
rapidly below its auto-ignition conditions and ignited by the
injection of pilot diesel fuel near the top dead center position
• It is interesting to note that in a CI dual fuel engine, the
combustion starts similar to CI engine, but flame propagates
similar to SI engine.
• The inducted fuel (Secondary Fuel) is usually a gaseous fuel such
as natural gas / methane / LPG / biogas etc..
• It is compressed with air, but does not auto-ignite due to its high
self ignition temperature.
 • Diesel fuel (Primary Fuel) is injected nearly at the end of
compression of the secondary fuel-air mixture.
• The dual-fuel engine is capable of running either on pure oil or a
combination of gas and oil over a wide range of mixture ratios.
• It has the ability to run over a wide range of liquid fuels from
Kerosene to heavier oils, as well as bio-fuels, such as vegetable
oils and their esters
• This primary pilot diesel fuel, self ignites first and becomes the
ignition source for the combustion of gaseous fuel-air mixture,
which occurs by flame propagation.
• The flame propagates from the ignition center formed by the
injected fuel droplets into the homogeneous secondary fuel-air
mixture to complete the combustion process.
• Such a system can therefore provide an effective method for
producing power while reducing exhaust emissions, especially
exhaust particulates and oxides of Nitrogen. Improved efficiency
and increased power output can be achieved with dual fuel
engines relative to neat diesel operation.
• The dual fuel engine represents an attractive means for utilizing
gaseous fuel resources for the production of power while using
the simple conventional diesel engine. The main aim in dual
fuelling is to minimize the use of liquid injected fuel for economic
reasons as well as for reducing particulate emissions. The
replacement of injected fuel by cheaper gaseous fuels should be
optimized for any given load without sacrificing the “straight
diesel” performance of the engine. In other words, in order to get
maximum benefit liquid fuel quantity should be optimised
•
The dual fuel engine has the following advantages:
• The gas burns without leaving any residue - exhaust is clean – less
air pollution.
• The clean combustion results in reduced wear of the engine parts
and reduced consumption of lubricating oil. The lubricating oil
 change periods are also increased as the maximum pressure in
cylinder are less than those for a diesel engine, thereby reducing
the blow-by past piston. This reduces the contamination of the
lubricating oil.
• The utility of the power plant is highly increased by its ability of
instantaneous change over from gas to diesel and vice versa.
• Only a small amount of diesel is required to run the engine.
• Smooth operation can be achieved due to homogeneous nature
of the gaseous fuel-air mixture.
• Very low levels of smoke emissions, NOx emission lower than the
neat diesel operation due to reduced peak temperature and
pressures.
• Thermal efficiency is comparable to or even better than pure
diesel version at medium and high loads depending upon the
nature of the primary fuel.
DISADVANTAGES OF DUAL-FUEL ENGINES
• Increased cost of installation.
• The engine can be used only near a gas plant.
• When conditions are not optimized engine efficiency will be lower
than that with single fuel.

Factors Affecting Combustion in Dual Fuel Engines

Pilot fuel quantity:
• Pilot fuel undergoes pre-combustion reaction and releases
thermal energy which increases the temperature of the gaseous
fuel and a flame front is developed.
• Higher the pilot fuel quantity faster is the combustion which may
results in knocking.
• Normally 5-7% of total fuel at full load is injected.
• Value higher than 7% results in knocking while a smaller value
results in erratic spay characteristics and improper combustion..
• 2. Injection timings:
 • Normal injection timing is about 20-160 btdc. Advancing the
injection timing results in higher maximum engine cylinder
pressure and knocking occurs at a leaner mixture.
• Retarding the injection timing reduces the ignition delay but
combustion starts only after the TDC.
• This further reduces the maximum rate of pressure rise and
efficiency.
3. Effect of Cetane number of pilot fuel:
• With increase in Cetane number of pilot fuel the rate of pressure
rise near the knock limit is slightly reduced.
• Low Cetane fuel results in poor performance.
4. Effect of inlet temperature.
• It effects power output, ignition limits, rate of pressure rise and
hence knocking limits.
. Type of gaseous fuel:
• Main effect of the type of gaseous fuel is on the ignition and
knocking limits.
• Methane- main constituent of natural gas does not undergo
decomposition during the compression stroke and more resistant
to knocking, pre-ignition and backfiring from cylinder into gas/air
inlet than other gases.
• Performance also depends on blends.
• Due to wide variation in available fuel compositions generalization
is not possible.
6. Effect of throttling:
• It is necessary for inducting under part load conditions.
• Cylinder pressure reduces with throttling.
7. Effect of Mixture strength:
• With lean mixture delay period will be very large.
• As the mixture strength is increased, ignition delay reduces
rapidly and then again rises sharply.
• Further increase in mixture strength results in ignition failure
Stratified Charge Combustion Engines
• Most of SI engines are designed to have a homogeneous air-fuel
mixture throughout the combustion chamber due to which fuel
economy is lost and results in increased pollution.
• Spark ignition engines designed to operate at different air-fuel
ratio at different locations of the CC are called as stratified charge
engine.
• In stratified charge engines a rich mixture that ignites readily is
desired around the spark plug, while the major volume of the
combustion chamber is filled with a very lean mixture that gives
good fuel economy.
• Special intake systems are necessary to supply this non-
homogeneous mixture, along with flexible valve and injection
timing, are used to accomplish the desired results.
• Some stratified charge SI engines are operated with no throttle,
which raises the volumetric efficiency. Speed is controlled by
proper timing and quantity of fuel input
Merits: It can burn overall very lean mixtures which in turn has
the following advantages-
• Lesser dissociation losses and therefore higher thermal
efficiency.
• Lesser tendency for knocking and therefore
• Higher compression ratios possible.
• Lesser exhaust pollution from UBHC, CO and NOx
• Since no throttling is done at the intake, pumping losses are
eliminated.

Demerits:
• The engine can be operated only at part loads, since at full load
the chamber will not be completely filled with mixture without
any stratification.
• For the same reason the engine has lower specific output, i.e. for
a given output it has to be larger in size and weight.
 • Since stratified zone is dynamic within the combustion chamber,
coordination between spark time and charge movement is difficult
resulting in possibilities of misfire. Hence special designs are needed
for successful variable speed operation.

Six- Stroke Engine

Under the hood of almost all modern automobiles there sits a
four-stroke internal combustion engine (ICE). Though the efficiency of
the design has been improved upon significantly in the intervening
years, the basic concept is the same today as that used by the first
practical four-stroke engine built in the 1870s. During every cycle in a
typical car engine, each piston moves up and down twice in the
chamber, resulting in four total strokes… one of which is the power
stroke that provides the torque to move the vehicle. But the
automotive industry may soon be revolutionized by a new six-stroke
design which adds a second power stroke, resulting in a much more
efficient and less polluting alternative.
In a traditional ICE cycle, 1) the fuel/air valves open as the piston moves
down, which draws air and fuel into the chamber; 2) the valves close as
the piston moves back up, putting the air/fuel mixture under pressure;
3) the mixture is then ignited, causing a small explosion which forces
the piston back down, which turns the crank and provides the torque;
and finally 4) the exhaust valves open as the piston moves back up once
again, pushing the byproducts of the fuel explosion out of the chamber.
This leaves the piston back in its starting position, ready for another
cycle. This process is repeated thousands of times per minute.

The six-stroke design was developed by 75-year-old mechanic and

tinkerer Bruce Crower, a veteran of the racing industry and a the owner
of a company which produces high-performance cams and other engine
parts. He had long been trying to devise a way to harness the waste
heat energy of combustion engines, and one day in 2004 he awoke with
an idea which he immediately set to work designing and machining. He
modified a single-cylinder engine on his workbench to use the new
design, and after fabricating the parts and assembling the powerplant,
he poured in some gas and yanked the starter rope. His prototype
worked.
His addition to the ICE design is simple in principle, yet a stroke of
genius. After the exhaust cycles out of the chamber, rather than
squirting more fuel and air into the chamber, his design injects ordinary
water. Inside the extremely hot chamber, the water immediately turns
to steam— expanding to 1600 times its volume— which forces the
piston down for a second power stroke. Another exhaust cycle pushes
the steam out of the chamber, and then the six-stroke cycle begins
again.
Besides providing power, this water injection cycle cools the
engine from within, making an engine’s heavy radiator, coolant, and
fans obsolete. Despite its lack of a conventional liquid cooling system,
his bench engine is only warm to the touch while it is running.