Chapter 5) Engine Cooling and Lubrication System

Necessity of Engine Cooling:-

• In addition to overheating, large temperature differences may lead to distortion of the
engine components due to set up of thermal stresses.
• If the cooling system is not provided to an internal combustion engine, the lubricating
oil film would break down and the lubricating oil will decompose to give gummy and
carbon deposits.
• In lack of cooling system, a complete seizure of the piston, bearing and other
important parts will occur.
• This requires more frequent replacements of the components.
• It will also increase the repairing cost and breakdown period. It reduces engine life
considerably.
• The volumetric efficiency of the engine lowers with an increase in temperature.
• This promotes pre-ignition and tendency of the engine to detonate.
Limitations of Engine Cooling:-
• It must be capable of removing only about 30% of the heat generated in
the combustion chamber.
• Too much heat removal will lower the thermal efficiency of the engine.
• It is also required to be very slow cooling at the starting of the engine so that the
different working parts of the internal combustion engine reach their operating
temperature in a short time period.
• The vaporization of fuel is less at low temp than desired one ; this results in reduced
combustion efficiency.
• Low temperature increases the viscosity of lubricant and hence more piston friction is
encountered thus decreasing the mechanical efficiency.
Types of Engine Cooling:-

1) Air Cooling:-

The basic principle involved in this is to have current of a flowing air continuously over
the heated metal surface from where the heat is to be removed.
Heat dissipation depends upon:-

 Surface area of metal in contact with air.

 Mass flow rate of air.
 Temperature difference between heated surface and air.
 Conductivity of metal.
Thus for an effective cooling surface area of metal which is in contact with it should be
increased.

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 This is done by using fins over the cylinder barrel. These fins are either cast as an integral
part of cylinder or separate finned barrel are inserted over the cylinder barrel.
Sometimes, particularly in the case of aero engines, the fins are machined from the forged
cylinder blanks. Fig. shows a cylinder with fins over the cylinder barrel.
To increase the contact area still further, Baffles are used sometimes. Fig. shows a few
types.
Use of Copper and steel alloys has also been made to improve heat transfer because of
their better thermal conductivity.

Advantages:
 Air cooled engines are lighter because of the absence of the radiator, the cooling
jackets and the coolant.
 They can be operated in extreme climates where the water may freeze.
 In certain Areas where there is scarcity of cooling water the air cooled engine is
an advantage.
 maintenance is easy because the problem of leakage is not there.
 air cooled engines get warmed up earlier than the water cooled engines.
Disadvantages:

 Not much heat transfer takes place compared to liquid cooling.

 Not suitable for massive engines
 Not suitable for stagnant engines (ex: laboratories, power plants); needs extra
blower to drive air.
 Need massive fins around the cylinder to increase the surface to enhance heat
removal.

Water Cooling System:-

1) Thermosyphon Cooling System:-

 Thermo syphon cooling system operates on the principle of natural convection.

 Thermo-syphon water cooling system is based on the fact that water becomes light on
heating and it moves up.
 The top and bottom of the radiator are connected to the top and bottom of the cylinder
water jacket respectively with the help of pipes.
 The radiator is cooled by causing air to flow over it. Airflow is achieved by vehicle
motion or a fan provided.

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 The heated water in cylinder water jacket becomes light and moves out of the upper
connection pipe into the radiator and travels down from upper tank to lower tank,
rejecting heat as it travels.
 This cooled water from the lower tank is passed into the cylinder water jacket and
hence circulated again for the process.
 An important limitation of this system is that the cooling depends only on temperature
and is independent of engine speed.

2) Pump Circulation System:-

 The water-cooling system has the major components such as water jackets, circulating
pump, fan, thermostat, connecting pipes and hoses, radiator and radiator cap.
 The direction of cooling water flow is upward from the cylinder head to the top tank
of the radiator, then down through the radiator core to the bottom tank.
 From the bottom tank, it moves through the lower radiator hose to the cylinder block
water jackets and then through the water pump, which circulates the water.
 Water enters the engine at the center of the inlet side of the pump.
 The circulating pump is driven by a belt from the crankshaft.
 As engine speed increases, the flow of coolant increases.

Radiator:-

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  The function of the radiator is to ensure close contact of the hot coolant coming out of
the engine with outside air, so as to ensure high rates of heart transfer from coolant to
air. A radiator consists of an upper (or header) tank, core and the lower (or collector)
tank (Fig.5.7). Besides, an overflow pipe in the header tank and drain pipe in the
lower tank are provided. Hot coolant from the engine enters the radiator at the top and
is cooled by the cross-flow of air, while flowing down radiator. The coolant collects
in the collector tank from where it is pump to the engine for cooling.
 There are two basic types of radiator cores, viz., Tubular the and cellular type. In the
former it is the coolant that flows through the tubes and air passes around them, while
in the cellular type the air passes through the tubes and coolant floor in the spaces in
between them. Out of these, tubular type courses are the most commonly used which
are further classified depending upon the shape of the fins around the tubes which are
meant to increase the area for heat transfer from coolant to the cooling air.
 Both the core tubes as well as the fins are made from thinnest possible material.
Times are made from 0.1mm to 0.3mm sheet, whereas fins are made from about
0.1mm thick material.
 The material used for radiator is should be resistance to corrosion, possess higher
thermal conductivity and from easily, apart from having adequate strength. Copper
and yellow brass is the widely used materials for radiators. Aluminium is also used
from weight and cost considerations. Some late model radiators have plastic tanks
with aluminium cores.
 The size of the radiator must be adequate to remove the heat which is approximately
equal to the heat energy utilized fit producing power in the engine. Alternately, the
radiator size is matched to the displacement volume of the engine. The air conditioned
vehicle would require a larger radiator due to extra great load air resistance. Thus
frontal area of the radiator is kept minimum, which may be achieved by making the
core thicker and accommodating more core material into the same volume without
increasing the air resistance.
 For heavy duty applications, radiators shutters are also sometimes used. These are
automatically controlled by means of the compressed air from the break system.
Shutter control mechanism is installed with the upper hose of the cooling system.
Depending upon the coolant temperature coming from the engine, which itself
depends upon the engine temperature, the shutter control mechanism causes the
shutter to open or. Thus, for example, the shifter remains closed during starting and it
gradually opens up as the engine attains its working temperature, thus allowing the
fresh air to come into contact with the radiator.

Pressure cap:-

 Temperature of engine goes way much higher than 100 degree centigrade, and water
is used as a coolant in cars. But water starts boiling at 100 degrees and get converted
into steam. And steam does not exchange heat at a good pace. So how water can be
used as a coolant.

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  To solve this problem pressure caps are introduced in a radiators. Pressure cap does
not allow the pressure formed in the radiator to escape created by hot water coming
from engine . Thus there is an increase in pressure inside radiator as water gets hotter.
And as we know that the boiling point of a liquid increases if it is heated at a higher
pressure. So pressure cap increases the boiling point of water and keeps it in liquid
state even at temperatures higher than 100 degree centigrade.

 Imagine if pressure in the radiator goes on increasing it could bust the radiator pipes,
to short out this problem, pressure cap is equipped with a spring at its bottom, which
gets lifted up as the pressure reaches around 15psi, so pressure cap acts as a valve and
release the pressure to overflow tank when it exceeds the limit of 15 psi.
Expansion Reservoir:-

 In modern radiators instead of overflow pipe an expansion reservoir is provided.

 This is so connected with the radiator that it receives the excess coolant as the engine
temperature increases.
 When the cooling water cools down, its volume decreases and the coolant in the
reservoir returns to the radiator keeping the system full of coolant.
 The reservoir is usually made of translucent plastic so that it can indicate the level of
the coolant anytime. Such system is also known as coolant recovery system and it has
following advantages:
1. There is no loss of coolant due to overflow on account of expansion.
2. Relatively smaller upper tank may be used with the radiator.
3. As air does not enter the cooling system with this arrangement, corrosion of
the cooling jackets and passages and deterioration of antifreeze is reduced
appreciably.

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Thermostat

Thermostat is the very effective part of the cooling system of an engine which
controls the small amount of operating temperature. If the vehicle engine is cold, the
thermostat will close so the engine can warm-up speedily. It will open when the
temperature allows coolant to go through the radiator.
Bellows type of thermostat:-

 It consists of metallic-bellows particularly filled with some volatile liquid like

acetone, alcohol, or ether which boils between 70-850 c.
 A valve is attached to one end of the bellows, while to the other end is attached a
frame which fits into the cooling passage.
 The thermostat is fitted in the coolant hose pipe at the engine outlet.
 When the engine after start is warming up, it is desired that the cooling system should
operate so that the engine warms up early.
 During this period, the thermostat valve remains closed, because the liquid inside as
yet has not changed its state and, therefore, does not exert any pressure on the valve.
As the thermostat valve is closed with the coolant pump running, to avoid excessive
pressure build-up, a part of the held-up coolant is made to circulate back through a by-
pass to the pump inlet.
 But as the coolant temperature reaches a predetermined value (about 800 C) the liquid
inside the thermostat is converted into vapour which exerts a pressure on the valve,
which begins to open, so that the water circulation through the radiator starts. The
valve then opens gradually further as the water temperature rises, until it is fully open
at about 99-950 C. Thus the thermostat controls the flow of water through the radiator
according to the engine cooling requirements.

Coolant pump:-
 A coolant pump is a necessity for the forced circulation type of engine cooling
system. The pump is mounted at the front end of the engine and is driven from the
crankshaft by means of a V-belt. Centrifugal type pump is the one which is used for
this purpose.
 The coolant from the radiator enters the pump at the centre where inlet is located. The
flow of the coolant depends upon the pump speed which is proportional to engine
speed.

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  When the impeller rotates the coolant between the vanes is thrown outward due to the
centrifugal force, thus forcing the coolant at the periphery, with a force depending
upon the speed of rotation of the pump spindle, which itself is proportional to the
engine speed.
 This coolant leaving the periphery of the impeller tangentially and having maximum
kinetic energy then enters the involute or the scroll, which is a smoothly curved
passage cast in the casing, whose cross sectional area gradually increases toward the
outlet port. Thus the enlarging scroll converts the kinetic energy of coolant to pressure
energy. In this way a coolant pressure is created at the pump outlet that forces the
coolant through the cooling system.
Fan:-
 The radiator needs a constant flow of air through its core to cool it adequately. When
the car is moving, this happens anyway; but when it is stationary a fan is used to help
the airflow.

 Mounted on the back of the radiator on the side closest to the engine is one or two
electric fans inside a housing that is designed to protect fingers and to direct the air
flow.
 These fans are there to keep the air flow going through the radiator while the vehicle
is going slow or is stopped with the engine running. If these fans stopped working,
every time you came to a stop, the engine temperature would begin rising.
 It is generally made up of sheet metal, but these days moulded plastic materials e.g.
nylon or polypropylene are also used for making fans.

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Electric Circuit for Fan motor:-

The fan is driven by means of a separate electric motor which is supplied with power directly
from the electric circuit of the engine.
This system has been used on Maruti cars. A thermostat switch is placed at an appropriate
place in the cooling system and depending upon the cooling system temperature it operates to
switch ON or OFF the fan motor.
Coolant

Coolant is a mixture of two things glycol and water. The glycol represents the antifreeze
element in the mixture.it helps prevent fluid from icing over in cold temperature and helps
prevent fluid from reaching a boiling point in extreme heat

In short it help keep engine temperature stable under extreme climate and driving condition.

In cold conditions there Is always a danger that the water in cooling system may get
frozen. To the volume of water when converted into ice increase by about 10% they may
result in damage to the entire system including in extreme cases the bursting of the radiator
core the longer an engine runs the hotter it gets. Coolant is designed to remove and carry heat
away from the engine to radiator once the fluid cool. down it cycles back to the engine to
remove more heat.

Characteristics of coolant

1. It should be thoroughly miscible with water and should prevent freezing of the
coolant down to the lower ambient temperature.
2. It should not have any corrosive action on system components especially the radiator
hose pipes.
3. It should be high so that there is minimum loss due to evaporation and coolant can
operate at high temperature.
4. It should not deposits any foreign matter in jackets Hose pipe or radiator etc.

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 5. It should not me inflammable and it flash point should be higher than the max
possible operating temperature.
6. If viscosity should not be excessive so that the circulation is not affected.

Lubrication System
Need of Lubrication:-
• Primary purpose is to reduce friction
• No metal to metal contact occurs – Cushioning Friction and abrasive
wear held to a minimum
• to absorbs shocks
• To prevent the deposition of carbon, soot and sludge
• To act as cooling medium
• To form a good seal between piston rings and cylinder walls Cleans the
engine parts

Properties of Lubricant:-
• Suitable Viscosity: The viscosity of oil should not change with rise in temperature.
• Oilness: It ensures the adherence to the bearings and spread over the surface. This
property makes oil smooth and very important in boundary lubrication.
• Strength: The lubricant must have high strength to avoid metal contact and seizure
under heavy loads.
• Chemical Stability: The lubricant should not react with surfaces and any deposit in the
cylinder.
• Pour Point: It should be low to allow the flow of lubricant at low temperature to the
oil pump.
• Flash Point and Fire Point: The lubricating oil should not burn inside the cylinder,
otherwise it will leave heavy deposit and poisonous exhaust. Therefore, the flash point
and fire point of the lubricating oil must be high.
• Neutralization: The oil should not have a tendency to form deposits by reacting with
air, water, fuel or the products of combustion.
• Cleaning: The oil should act as cleaning agent inside the engine and should carry any
deposits with it. It should also have non-foaming characteristics, low cost and be non-
toxic.

OIL ADDITIVES

These are the chemical substances which are added to the lubricating oil either to reinforce
some of its natural properties or to provide it with certain new properties which it does not
possess originally. Oil additives are classified according to the property of the oil which they
reinforce or added. The important additive in current use is:

Oxidation inhibitors: These inhibit the formation of gums and varnishes by preventing the
oxidation of the oil at the engine operating condition. These are usually organic compounds
such as amines, sulphide or phenols with like tin, zinc or barium.

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Corrosion inhibitors: Combustion in the engine cylinder produces a number of by-
products including acids and water which would corrode the engine parts such as bearing.
Cold engine, rich fuel mixture, poorly tuned engine, cold-weather driving etc. are the
causes which increase the amount of acids produced. Corrosion inhibitors prevent or at
least reduce the formation of acids which would cause bearing corrosion. These consist of
oxidation inhibitors with the addition of metal salt of throphosphoric acid and sulphurized
waxes.

Detergents and Dispersants: Additives which handle high-temperature deposits such as

gums and varnishes are called detergents. Those which deal with low temperature deposits
such as cold sludge are called Dispersants.

Detergents and Dispersants acting a similar manner and may be convinced as tadpole-like
with a head and a tail. The heads attach themselves to particles which the tails keep the
particle separated (fig.6.2). The detergents-dispersants molecules attach themselves to
particles, keep them apart and hold them in suspension result is that any dirt (paint, varnish
or sludge) is kept finely dispersed and stays in the oil as fine suspension and is removed
when the engine oil is changed. Thus various engine parts, e.g., piston rings, main bearing,
oil galleries, connecting rod etc. remaining clean. The detergent additives are the polymers
and polyalyenyl succinimidies.

However, the additives in two-stroke engine oil act in a different manner. This converts
the particle of carbon into a crumbled powder from which is easily scavenged thru the
exhaust port.

Anti- scuff additives. - There is more likelihood of scoffing during engine running – in
period and after engine overhaul Ant scuff additives help to polish moving parts such as
pistons cylinder wall, cams etc., and thereby prevent their tendency of scuffing.

Viscosity Index Improvers. These are the additives which do not allow or at least
minimize the decrease of oil viscosity with the increase In temperature.

In case of ordinary lubricating oil, these are mainly hydrocarbon molecules whose
internal energy increases with increase in temperature so that they move faster and further
apart and thus becomes thinner. The Additives are usually polymers such as from acriloid
plastics, These have a long chain molecules which are coiled up when cols so that they
can move as freely as the hydrocarbon molecules, thus compensating for the decrease of
oil viscosity a=with temperature.

Anti-foaming Additives. The lubricating oils, in general, have tendency top foam due to
engine vibrations which give rise to churning of oil in the sump. Heat and churning mix
the oil with the air to produce foam, If allowed to foam, the oil cannot properly lubricate
the engine bearings, apart from loss by overflowing, Anti- foaming additives are available
which suppress this foaming tendency of oils polyorganosiloxanes are the most common
anti-foaming additives.

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Extreme Pressure (E.P)) additives. These cater form more difficult conditions of
lubrications, e.g. the one arising between the highly stressed cams and valve tappets,
under severe operating conditions, local temperatures can go up to 160 °c and pressures
can develop up to about 1400 MPa, At such extreme temperatures and pressures the oil
film between moving parts is likely to break down and allow metal to metal contact with
disastrous results, These additives provide the extra film strength by foaming a chemical
film, Polymeric materials such as polysobutene from such additives.

Pour point depressant. These serve to lower the pour point of the oil by coating the wax
crystal in the oil so that they would not stick together and thus facilitate oil flow

Others. Apart from above a larger variety of additives are available. Some of these are,
rust inhibitor, water repellents, emulsifier, dyes, odour controller, etc.

Classification Of engine oil:-

Accordding toViscosity Rating :-

The society of automotive Engineering (S.A.E) has classified the lubricating oils
according to their viscosity and service rating since sept., 1980,the viscosity ratings are
OW,5W,10W,20W,10,1520,30,40,50,60,80,100,150,200,300.

The oils with W are for winter use and their viscosity tests are made at 00F (-180C), while
those without W are for use in summer months and the viscosity tests in their cases are
done at 2100F (990C).

These days multigrade oils are also available. In their case change of viscosity
with temperature is minimum. For example , SAE 10W/30 oil has the same viscosity as
SAE 10W oil at 00F(-180C ) and as SAE 30 oil at 2100F(990C). The advantages of such
oils is that during cold starting there is reduced power loss on account of less friction than
would be there if ordinary single grade oil suitable for engine operating temperature is
used. Further this also avoids the necessity of using different oils for winter and summer
months.

‘SAE J 300’ is the standard for viscosity classification of engine oils used
worldwide which includes 5 high temperature grades (SAE 20,30,40,50,60) and 6 low
temperature grades (SAE 0W,5W 10W,15W,20W,25W). On april 2,2013. SAE has
introduced a new viscosity grade SAE 16. So far the high temperature grades were in
steps of 10 and low temperature grades in steps of 5.This new oil, is to be used for high
temperature, but is for lower viscosity oils standard in new specially designed engines
with lower hydrodynamic friction, resulting in lower fuel consumption. As per practice so
far, it could have been SAE 15, but then it could be confused with SAE 15 W which
could lead to its wrong unintended use causing harm to the engine. To avoid this
confusion in naming standards for this and future such engine oils, SAE has introduced
new step of 4 so that he user thinks twice before selecting the correct grade oil for his/her
vehicle.

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 According to SERVICE RATING :-

American petroleum Institute (A.P.I) has provided additional service classification

for lubricating oils. The S.A.E. and the A.P.I. classification are used simultaneously.

The classification of lubricating oils according to service to service condition,

however, is different for petrol and diesel engines, first letter S stands for service ratings
for petrol engine oils, SA,SB,SC,SD,SE,SF,SG,SI,SJ,SK,SL and SM. Oils with SA
designations are for mildest conditions. The other designation SB,SC, etc. are in order of
increasing severity of service conditions. Currently engine oils upto SE ratings are hardly
used for automobile engines on account of the gradually increasing severity of service
conditions with improvements in engine design. In the same way, there are separate
service ratings for diesel-engine oils. In increasing order of severity of service conditions,
these are CA,CB,CC,CD,CE,CF,CG and CH. Likewise, various gear oil API service
ratings are, GL-1,GL-2,GL-3,GL-5,MT-1.

Splash Lubrication System:-

Splash lubrication system is used on small, stationary four-stroke engines. In this system,
the cap of the big end bearing on the connecting rod is provided with a scoop which strikes
and dips into the oil-filled through at every revolution of the crank shaft and oil is splashed all
over the interior of crank case into the piston and over the exposed portion of the cylinder is
shown in the figure below.

A hole is drilled through the connecting rod cap through which the oil passes to the bearing
surface. Oil pockets are provided to catch the splashed oil over all the main bearings and also
the cam shaft bearings. From these pockets oil passes to the bearings through drilled hole.
The surplus oil dripping from the cylinder flows back to the oil sump in the crank case.

Dry sump lubrication system:-

This system is employed in some racing car engines and for situations where the vehicle has
to be operated at very steep angles.

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If ordinary wet sump pressure system of lubrication is used in such cases, the situations may
arise when there is no oil at the place where oil pump is installed.
To avoid such instances, dry sump system is used in fig; wherein two pump’s, instead
of one, are used.
The scavenge pump A is installed in the crankcase portion which is the lowest.
It pumps oil to a separate reservoir B , from where the pressure pump C pumps the oil
through filter D, to the cylinder bearings; a full pressure system of lubrication is employed.
The oil pressure is maintained at 400-500 kPa for the main and big end bearings while about
50-100 kPa pressure is used for timing gears and camshaft bearings etc.
Obviously, in this system, the sump can be smaller in size and can be placed anywhere in the
Vehicle. Usually, it is placed low down so that centre of gravity is lower.
This system is thus more reliable, but is more complex and costlier due to additional pump
and high pressure oil lines, due to which it is not used in common vehicles.

Pressure Lubrication System:-

In pressurized lubrication system, the lubricating oil is supplied by a pump under pressure to all
parts requiring lubrication as shown in below figure.

The oil under the pressure is supplied to main bearings of the crank shaft and camshaft. Holes
drilled through the main crank shaft bearings journals, communicate oil to big end bearing and
small end bearings through the hole drilled in the connecting rod. a pressure gauge is provided to
confirm the circulation of oil to various parts.

A separate line is provided for lubrication of timing gears and camshaft.

A oil pressure switch is also provided which senses the pressure of oil and if it falls below the
desired value it will give signal to driver on dashboard.

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This system provides sufficient lubrication to all parts and is favoured by most of the engine
manufacturers. This is used in most heavy duty and high-speed engines.

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