Internal

Combustion Engine
SADM A N HA S SA N LABI B
L EC T UR ER, MP E DE PA RTM ENT
ASHANULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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Basic Definitions
 Engine: A device that converts thermal energy to mechanical energy. The thermal
energy is produced from the combustion of hydrocarbons in presence of oxygen in
exothermic reaction commonly called Combustion Reaction.
 The Second law of thermodynamics is the basis of all types of heat engine. It states
that, “Heat flows from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature,
but it will not flow naturally the other way around”.
Based on the location of combustion engines are of two types
 External Combustion Engine: Product of combustion is not the working fluid.
Combustion occurs outside of the cylinder. Example: Steam Engine, Sterling
Engine
 Internal Combustion Engine: Products of combustion works as the working fluid
and the combustion takes place inside the cylinder. Example: Petrol Engine,
Diesel engines, Biofuel engine and so on
Our discussion is based on the internal combustion engine which itself can be of two
type
 Reciprocating: Pistons transfer power to the crankshaft via reciprocating motion.
Example: Petrol, Diesel engines
 Rotary: Pistons transfers power to the crankshaft via rotary motion. Example:
Rotary engine

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Basic Engine Terminology

Fig : Cutout view of

an I.C engine
showing the key
terms used to
describe an engine

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Basic Engine Terminology
1. Bore: The nominal inside diameter of the engine cylinder is called bore.
2. Top Dead Centre (T.D.C): Position of the crankshaft when the piston is at the
topmost position.
3. Bottom Dead Centre (B.D.C): Position of the crankshaft when the piston is at the
bottommost position.
4. Stroke (L): The distance travelled by the piston from the TDC to BDC is called the
stroke. It is the maximum distance that the piston can travel in the cylinder. It is
equal to twice the radius of the crank.
5. Clearance Volume: Extra headroom above the piston head from the when it is at
the Top Dead Centre. It is denoted as Vc
6. Piston Displacement: Volume covered in between TDC and BDC of piston
displacement. This is the combustion chamber of the heat engine.
7. Total Piston Displacement or Engine Capacity: Capacity of engine found by
multiplying the number of pistons with Piston Displacement.
8. Swept Volume: It is the volume which is swept by the piston. The difference
between total volume and clearance volume is knows as the swept volume.

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Basic Engine Terminology
9. Compression ratio: The ratio of maximum volume to minimum volume of cylinder is
known as the compression ratio. It is between 8-12 for SI engine and between 12-24
for CI engine. Mathematically it is defined as r=( Vs + Vc ) / Vc or (Total volume /
Clearance Volume)
10. Mean Effective Pressure: The average pressure acting upon the piston is known
as mean effective pressure. It is given by the ratio of the work done by the engine to
the total volume of the engine.
11. Indicated Power (IP): The power developed within the engine cylinders.
12. Brake Power (BP): The actual power delivered at the crankshaft. It is measured
with a dynamometer and is expressed in kilowatts. It is always less than Indicated
power due to frictional and pumping losses in cylinders and the reciprocating
mechanism.
13. Engine Torque: It is the force of rotation acting about the crankshaft axis at any
given instant.
 Engine with high brake power and low torque -> Vehicle is easy to accelerate but
high speed is difficult to maintain.
 Engine with low brake power and high torque -> Vehicle is difficult to accelerate
but high speed is easy to maintain.

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Engine Classification
• Heat engine can be classified by many categories. They are
i. Number of cylinders : V4, V6 etc engines
ii. Arrangement of Cylinder: Inline, V-type, Opposed.
iii. Arrangement of Valves: Overhead camshaft, pushrod camshaft, valveless.
iv. Type of cooling: Water cooled, Air cooled
v. Number of strokes per cycle: 2-stroke, 4-stroke
vi. Type of fuel used: Gasoline, Diesel, Ethanol, CNG
vii. Method of Ignition: Spark Ignition, Self or Compression Ignition.
viii. Firing Order: For four cylinder
 1-2-4-3
 1-3-4-2

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Engine Classification

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Internal components of an I.C
Engine

Fig. Main
components of
an I.C engine

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Two Stroke Petrol Engine
Operation

Detailed theory in Chapter 1, Fundamentals of Internal Combustion Engine by H.N

Gupta

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Four Stroke Engine
Operation

Detailed theory in Chapter 1, Fundamentals of Internal Combustion Engine by

H.N Gupta

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 Comparison between 2-Stroke
and 4-Stroke engines
1. Due to valve less construction, two stroke engine is simpler, more compact, lighter
and consequently cheaper to manufacture.

2. Two stroke engine have power stroke twice per crankshaft revolution, thereby the
torque output is smoother. However in low rpm the power produced is lower in
comparison to its 4 stroke counterpart.

3. Lubrication system is simpler.

4. Two stroke engine cannot expunge the burnt gas from the cylinder in the similar
quantity as that of 4 stroke engine. As a result its volumetric efficiency is lower. A
piston engine's volumetric efficiency describes its ability to put air into its cylinders;
the greater the efficiency percentage, the more completely the engine fills available
cylinder volume. For engines of the same displacement, those with better volumetric
efficiency develop more power and torque.

5. 2 stroke engine has greater tendency to build up carbon deposit on the cylinder wall,
openings of exhaust ports, which further reduces its scavenging efficiency.

6. As there is one power stroke in one revolution in comparison to one power stroke in
two revolutions of 4-stroke engine, 2-stroke engines tends to overheat faster.

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 Comparison of Petrol and
Diesel Engine
1. In Petrol engine (Spark Ignition Engine) mixture of air and petrol is
charged into the cylinder and compressed but in the case of Diesel
engine (Compression Ignition) only the air is compressed.
2. For SI engine compression ratio is in between 8-12 whereas the
compression ratio for CI engine is between 12-24. The result is higher
thermal efficiency and fuel savings in diesel engine when compared to a
SI engine of similar specifications.
3. No throttle valve is present in the passage of diesel engine which results
in higher volumetric efficiency. Diesel is also cheaper than petrol
4. There is no spark plug, carburetor, etc parts in a CI engine. CI engines
typically have common rail injection with modern ones having the
capability to control how much fuel goes into each cylinder from the
common injection rail very accurately.
5. SI engines have higher accelerating power whilst CI engines are typically
used for its high torque available at different engine operating conditions.

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 Air Standard Cycles in I.C
Engine
• In an I.C Engine, as working fluid passes through the engine and
combustion takes place, complicated physical, thermal and
chemical changes occur. Friction and heat transfer between the
gases and cylinder in real life scenarios makes the analysis more
complicated.
• To examine important engine parameters such as fuel
consumption, heat produced, heat rejection to atmosphere, thermal
efficiency, compression ratio, maximum power and torque and so
on, we need an engine cycle which can mathematically model the
above parameters.
• In this effect, scientists excludes all the irreversible process that
occur in an actual engine to constitute an Ideal Engine cycle.
• Furthermore, in this ideal cycle, air is the only working medium.
• Thus the cycle we use to evaluate important engine terms with
mathematical equations is known as Ideal cycle or Air Standard
Ideal Cycle.

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 Air Standard Cycles in I.C
Engine
• Assumptions taken for Air Standard Cycle analysis are
 The working fluid is an idea gas, pure air with constant specific
heat.
 A fixed mass of air is taken as the working fluid. No new air is
added or removed from the cylinder.
 The cycle is closed loop. Combustion process is replaced by
constant heat addition process.
 All processes that constitute the cycle are reversible.
 The compression and expansion processes are reversible and
adiabatic.
 The working medium does not undergo any chemical change
throughout the cycle.
 The operation of the engine is frictionless.

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 Otto cycle
• Detailed theory in Chapter 2, Fundamental of I.C Engine, H.N
Gupta

• Class note: Working Principle, Derivations of Thermal efficiency,

Work done and mean effective pressure.

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Otto Cycle: Thermal
Efficiency
• Detailed theory in Chapter 2, Fundamental of I.C Engine, H.N
Gupta

• Homework: Explanation/Significance of this curve(s).

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 Diesel Cycle
• Detailed theory in Chapter 2, Fundamental of I.C Engine, H.N
Gupta

• Class note: Working

Principle, Derivations
of Thermal efficiency,
Work done and mean
effective pressure.

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 Diesel Cycle: Thermal
Efficiency
• Detailed theory in Chapter 2, Fundamental of I.C Engine, H.N
Gupta

• Homework:
Explanation/Significance
of this curve. Efficiency
vs. Compression ratio
curve

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 Diesel Cycle: Thermal
Efficiency
• The first part of the formula is nothing but the efficiency of the Otto
Cycle. Moreover the terms in the third bracket will always be less than 1.
• Thus for the same compression ratio efficiency of Otto cycle will always
be GREATER than efficiency of diesel cycle
• The efficiency increases with decrease of cut-off ratio and approaches
maximum when terms in the third bracket comes close to unity
• Thermal efficiency in diesel engine increases with increase of
compression ratio (r) and adiabatic exponent (γ)
• But notice that if we keep compression ratio and exponent fixed then
increasing cut off ratio decreases efficiency.
• The reason is that increasing cut off ratio means more heat is added at
constant pressure which corresponds to an increase in engine load.

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Mathematical Problem:
Examples
1. In an Otto Cycle, air at 1 bar and 290k is compressed
isentropically until the pressure is 15 bar. The heat is added at
constant volume until the pressure rises to 40 bar. Calculate
the air standard efficiency and the mean effective pressure for
the cycle. Take Cp = 0.717 kJ/kg.K and Ru (Universal gas
constant) = 8.314 kJ/kg.mole.K [Khurmi example 6.13]
2. An ideal Diesel engine has a diameter of 150mm and stroke
200mm. The clearance volume is 10% of swept volume.
Determine the compression ratio and the air standard
efficiency of the engine if the cut-off takes place at 6% of the
stroke [Khurmi example 6.17]

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